A managed taxonomy system attempts to manage a taxonomy for an application, device or network. A taxonomy attempts to define a common or standard vocabulary for interacting with an application or system. The standard vocabulary may then be used for different applications, such as classification applications, search applications, tagging applications, and so forth. To create a standard vocabulary, managed taxonomy systems attempt to build and manage a highly structured and formalized hierarchy of standard vocabulary terms. Managed taxonomy systems, however, are typically difficult to maintain and manage, particularly across heterogeneous systems that are typically not designed to use the same vocabulary. Consequently, there may be a need for improved techniques for managing vocabulary terms and relationships for a managed taxonomy system.